Rat-guard



W. F. KONIG.

RAT GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 15. 1920.

Patented D60.27, 1921.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlfiE.

WILLIAM F. KONIG, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO JOHN. C. MCCANN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

RAT-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

Application filed December 15, 1920. Serial No. 430,847.

'1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. KONIG, a citizen ofatheUnited States, and resident of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and Improved Rat-Guard, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

ln connection with vessels, it. is a well appreciated fact thatmost ports have an act of legislation requiring that guards be placed upon the hawser-s of vessels when the sameistied to the dock, to prevent rats from coming aboard, or landing from, the vessel by means of the hawser-s.

This precaution istaken with a view of preventing a spread of disease, the germs of which, as iswell known, are often carried by these rodents.

With this in view, rat guards for the hawsers of ships have been devised, which rat guards usually include a disk of mate rial, provided with an opening through which the hawser was to be threaded. This provision, prevented to agreat extent the use of the hawser by rodents in landing and going to the ship.

However, certain objections have been noted in connection with devices of this type, in that primarily the rat guard was usually inapplicable to more than one size of. hawser, by virtueof the fact that the center opening of the same was of a specified diameter.

Further, it was necessary, in most cases,

to thread the hawser through the opening which rendered the hawser difficult to ban dle, especially during the bustle of docking.

Also the guard often would not remain transversely positioned upon the hawser, due to the shrinkage of the latter, etc. In

this case it was often possible for the rats shall be adjustable so as to be applicable to various sizes of hawsers within the limits of its adjustability.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a guard which may be applied to the hawser subsequent to the positioning of the latter between the vessel and dock.

Various further objects of my invention will appear in the annexed specification and drawings, which latter present one practical embodiment of my invention, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved guard in applied position upon the hawser.

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view showing certain of the parts of the guard.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional side view taken along the lines ll of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the elements of the guard, and

Fig. 6 is a side view of one of the units of the guard.

In these views the reference numeral 10 indicates the hawser upon which the guard is positioned, in a plane at all times sub stantially transverse to the same, so that any possibility of a rodent climbing over the guard is effectually prevented.

. Referring now more particularly to Fig. 5 it will be seen that one of the main elements of the guard conveniently includes a disk 11. which. may be semi-circular, and which is conveniently provided with a cutout portion 12, intermediate the ends of its straight edge, the face of such cutout portion being preferably curved to conform roughly to the contour of a hawser.

' The side edges of the semi-circular portion of the disk are provided adjacent the straight edge, with inwardly extending flange portions 13, whereby to provide grooves at this point.

These grooves, as will be noted, present a straight face, and as will be seen, reference being had to Figs. 1, 2 and 1, are adapted to receive a second substantially circular disk 14:. The two disks when assembled together, in this manner present a substantially circular body.

As will be noted. the second disk 14, is also provided with a recess 12, and both of these disks have secured to them transversely curved sleeve portions 15, having their ends extending beyond the side face of the disk, and adapted to lie substantially parallel. to the body of the hawser 10, such sleeve portions resting within the recesses 12, and adjacent the grooved face of the same.

Thus I have provided a guard which shall be bodily extensible, so that the central opening of the same may be distended to accommodate various sizes of hawsers, the sleeves 15 serving at all times to retain the body of the guard transversely to the hawser with which they contact.

To now provide suitable means serving to retain the parts in applied position upon a hawser, and to effectually prevent a rodent from forcing these parts, in such a manner that it may crawl between the same, a clamping strip 16 is conveniently affixed to each of the disks, and adjacent the sleeve 15 thereof. The central portion of this clamping strip serves to retain the end of a strip of material 17 in applied position, which strip of material is preferably of canvas, and may be provided with laces 18, permitting of its being applied to the hawser 10 in such a manner, that the same is enveloped, as has been clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 4:.

The ends of the clamping strip 16 are preferably extended, and spaced from the face of the disk with which they are associated, so as to overlap the face of the second disk. By mounting the clamping strips "16 upon opposite faces of the disk it will be understood that this will provide a guarding element serving to effectually retain the parts in proper relationship, one with the other.

Thus I have provided a guard which is applicable to various sizes of hawsers, and may be applied to the same, subsequent to their being extended between the dock and the vessel, and in which no possibility of a rddent passing through or over the guard exists.

Obviously numerous modifications of out in the least departing from the spirit of my invention, which I claim as:

1. A rat guard, including a pair of units, one of said units presenting grooves adapted to receive certain parts of the side edges of the second of the same, each of said units being formed with a recessed portion, these recessed portions being adapted to alino with each other to provide a common opening through both of the units, and clamping strips secured to one of the faces of each of said units, and strips of material, having one of their ends interposed between said clamping strlps and face of said units.

2. A rat guard, including a pair of units, one of said units presenting grooves adapted to receive certain parts of the side edges of the second of the ame, each of said units being formed with a recessed portion, these recessed portions being adapted to aline with each other to provide a common opening through both of the units, clamping strips secured to one of the faces of each of said units, and strips of material having one of their end interposed between said clamping strips and face of said units, and means attached to said strips of material for permitting the same to envelop the hawser.

3. A rat guard, including a pair of units, one of said units presenting grooves adapted to receive certain parts of the side edges of the second of the same, each of said units being formed with a recessed portion, these recessed portions being adapted to aliue with each other to provide a common opening through both of the units, clamping strips secured to one of the faces of each of said units, the clamping strips of each of said units having their ends extended so as to overlap the face adjacent the side edges of the recessed portion of the second unit.

WILLIAM F. KONIG. 

